Jannik Sinner may have only progressed through his fourth-round Wimbledon match due to Grigor Dimitrov’s retirement, but now it’s his own injury that is of huge concern.
There were fears during the match that the Italian was hampered, as he just did not look himself.
Falling into a two-set-to-love deficit, he was staring down the barrel of a huge defeat far earlier than many expected.
Alas, as Dimitrov served, he seemed to tear his right pectoral muscle, minutes after Jannik Sinner had received medical treatment for his elbow.
The 23-year-old is the player who managed to make it through with some degree of fitness, but there are huge fears over the level he will be able to bring to his match against Ben Shelton later today.
The latest on Jannik Sinner’s Wimbledon injury
Speaking to Tennis Channel, it was journalist Jon Wertheim who sought to offer an initial update.
He claimed: “The lesser of two injuries in that fourth-round match, Jannik Sinner had that early-match elbow injury. He was shaking it off, he grimaced, at one point he had it checked out.
“It was strange because his swerve speeds didn’t really dip that much. He was still hitting, you know, in excess of 120 miles an hour plenty of times, but he clearly was uncomfortable, obviously did not have to go the full distance in that match with the Dimitrov injury, but yeah, the intrigue today was how is that elbow holding up?
“Sinner had an MRI. He had booked a practice court here on site mid-afternoon, and that court went unoccupied. We later learned it was reported that he had a very, very light indoor practice.
“Remember, adding another level of intrigue here, guys. Remember, on the eve of the tournament, Sinner parted ways with his trainer and physio. So we’ll see how that elbow goes when he plays in the quarterfinals against Ben Shelton, but that’s a twist here.”
Jim Courier predicts whether Jannik Sinner will be fit to face Ben Shelton
Naturally, all interest will be on whether Sinner has recovered enough in time to face Shelton, who promises to push his physical limits after an impressive week and a half at Wimbledon.
The American has quietly snuck through the draw with impressive form, and would be a threat to anyone on tour, let alone someone hampered by injury.
Jim Courier is not very optimistic for Sinner’s chances of returning to full fitness though, admitting: “Yeah, looking at that video, Jon, it looked to me like it wasn’t that his elbow hit the ground.
That would have been the problem.
“It was when he tried to stop the fall. It was almost like a hyperextension that you see more often on a leg, but it looked like that was the jarring bit, and then he went down to his elbow. That would be the one that would concern me if I were on his team because it’s less of the impact of the ground. It’s more the shock to the system, and did it do any ligament damage that you might be concerned about?
“Obviously, they’re gonna keep that information very tight and uh, and try and get him through the rest of this tournament.
“But you make a great point. The fact that he did part company with the team that manages his body, just prior to this tournament definitely is an interesting part of this story now. I don’t know if he’s relying on trainers, and there are certainly very capable trainers that we see come onto the course to help players that work for the tour, so he might be relying on them.
“Maybe he’s brought someone else on quietly, but no one’s sitting up in the team zone with Darren and Simone.”
Darren Cahill confirmed that Sinner would be fit to play Shelton, but how fit can only be assessed once the match starts.
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